Guiding Light
by Nagiana
Summary: Helia is the daughter of Helios and his Queen, Euterpe. When the Ghost of Sparta kills her parents and takes her along with him on his journeys to kill Zeus, will Helia be able to get rid of her hatred for him . . . and learn to love him instead?
1. Prologue pt I

**Okay, sorry I haven't updated this story in forever, but a whole manner of things have been keeping me from me. I recently got re-addicted to it from playing God of War III again and I promise I will update soon. Until then, however, I have re-edited EVERYTHING, so its basically much better and probably makes better sense because of the new and improved grammer :)**

**Thanks for the understanding!**

**- Nagiana**

* * *

"Euterpe, love . . .! Euterpe, get back here, child, and help your grandparents down to the Temple! We must be there before the festivities start, or a plague will fall on our house!"

Euterpe, the young woman running along in front of them, was the only daughter (actually, the only _child_) of the King of Rhodes, who was also known to his peers as King Telemachus the Fair and Just. Euterpe was a Princess of such wide-revered beauty (which most people claim she got from her deceased mother, Queen Zephyrine, who was a descendant of the Goddess Hera herself) that her grandmother, Aethra, often playfully whispered to her that the Great Sun God, Helios himself, would be smitten with her, if only he would turn his eyes upon her. Euterpe would almost always giggle in response to her grandmother, and then demurely respond by saying, 'Why a God of such superior standing as Helios would be infatuated with a mere Princess like me, I would like to know; much less the Princess of a city that barely rivaled that of Thebes and Athens, or even Thessalonica or Sparta in magnificence!'

The city of Rhodes, although a small Greek island, was nowhere as near as lowly as she made it out to be! It was set in the eastern Aegean Sea and was a fertile, beautiful land, famous for its flavorful wines and fat, green and black olives - its fat cattle, pigs and sheep, its endless abundance of deer, and it's beautiful snow-capped mountains. Rhodes was also famed for The Colossus of Rhodes, which was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the World, and stood at the foot of the harbor. Rhodes was the city in which Helios, the God of the Sun, was the Patron God of. Thus, the large, prosperous city was often thought of, of being favored by the Sun God himself!

Euterpe paused in her running and turned back to grin at her beloved grandparents, Aethra and Jencir. Jencir had voluntarily stepped down from the throne a couple of years ago when he thought that his old mind was no longer fit to rule, and gave it to his oldest son, Euterpe's father, Telemachus, over his two younger sons, Pax and Calisto. None of the brothers were bitter about the arrangement and the land was shrouded in peaceful harmony, made even more beautiful by the glorious, lighthearted Princess that dwelt there.

Euterpe, the only child of her father by her deceased mother and his first and only Queen, Zephyrine, was the apple of her father's eye. Her grandparents adored her and being a maiden of only seventeen, she was blessed with beauty that would rival that of Aphrodite and the kindness of the Goddess Philophrosyne. Telemachus had many courtiers and Princes ask and beg for his daughter's hand in marriage, but none were deemed worthy enough in his eyes. He knew that his daughter was destined for greatness in her life and knew that no normal man could have her, much less tame the wild spirit that she secretly hid inside, which was the mistake he had made with her mother. He knew that it was vain of him to think such things, but the only man fit for a young woman of such beauty, kindness and standing as one such as Zephyrine's only daughter, was a God of Olympus!

Euterpe walked back over to her grandparents and stood in-between them, where she looped her arms through theirs, making it better for her to help them maneuver down the rocky mountain path towards the Temple of Helios, which was located in the valley. The Temple was where the festivities were going to be held that afternoon, as it always was, and as always, it was a looked-forward to and sure to be, glorious event! Helios, the Patron God that was worshiped in Rhodes, was thrown many extravagant festivities in his name and honor, frequently within the spring and summer months, when his sun burned most fiercely in the blue, often flawless sky.

"The festivities are going to be most extravagant this year, don't you think?" Euterpe voiced out loud in curiosity, and Aethra smiled coyly at her beautiful granddaughter. She took in her granddaughter's long black hair that curled into fat ringlets at the ends, and her beautifully flawless, marble-like skin. A God would be a fool to overlook her granddaughter's beauty and kindness. Aethra guessed that the only reason Zeus did not take notice to her or turned a blind eye to her beauty, was because she was a daughter of Rhodes, Helios' kingdom, and he dared not anger the only God that held more sway over the mortal plane than him and Demeter.

"Yes, it will Euterpe! Perhaps Helios will finally look down upon the festivities this year, see you as a shining beacon in the crowd calling out to him, and instantly become smitten!" She spoke rather passionately, and Euterpe giggled good-naturedly whilst Jencir rolled his eyes.

"I swear woman! One day, you will cause a _calamity_ to fall onto Rhodes, if you keep your heretical tongue wagging!" He spat and Euterpe smiled as her grandmother turned her eyes back onto her grandfather.

"Keep what up, Jencir? I am merely complimenting my granddaughter of her beauty! Can I not do that?" Jencir glared at her.

"You can, but you do it almost to the point of angering the Gods!" Aethra scoffed and placed her free hand on her hip. Euterpe giggled again. Even though her grandmother and grandfather fought more than twice a day over every little mundane thing, it was clear that they both harbored a deep love for each other. It was a pure love that Euterpe's father had held for her mother before she died in childbirth with Euterpe's would-be-younger-brother, and it was a love that Euterpe hoped to have with _her_ future husband.

"Now how could I possibly anger the Gods? I am merely saying that Helios is a fool for not noticing Euterpe in the first place!" She spoke defensively, and Jencir gasped, a look of shock and horror on his old, wizened face.

"Now you press too far, Aethra! I will not be surprised if the Sun God _himself_, places a curse onto Rhodes for your feeble-headed insolence!" Aethra ignored her husband, however, and placed her free, gnarled hand on her granddaughter's forearm, where she whispered to her,

"You just watch, Euterpe! You _will _capture the eyes of a God; I can see it now! You are beautiful and kind! What God would _not _fall in love with you?" Euterpe looked down at the rocky mountain path in shyness although she had to admit . . . it prided her when her grandmother talked like this to her. She knew it was wrong. Her father had taught her that piousness was the only way to enter into the Elysian Fields or the Asphodel Meadows, but she couldn't help it! It flattered her . . . and Euterpe liked to be flattered.

"But grandmother, I do not wish to impose my beauty onto anyone, God or mortal! I am but a humble Princess, who goes where her father commands her! I am not fit for a God, _believe_ me!" She spoke, laughing a little, and Aethra scoffed again and glanced away before she turned her wise, almost prophetic eyes onto her granddaughter.

"Believe me, child, it is easy to capture the attention of a God – something that I have no doubt that you will! The hard part is in keeping it!"

* * *

"Aethon, Phlegon, stop bucking, dammit!"

Helios, the God of the Sun, rolled his eyes again for the fifth time in seemingly five minutes, as two of the four fiery palomino and chestnut horses that pulled his flaming chariot, started bucking in their harnesses, trying vainly to break free. No other God, save for Apollo, had the strength to control his powerful, hardly broken horses, and thus, the fate of human kind rested in the strong, sound hands of the God of the Sun.

Helios was a vain, handsome God, with thick, dark brown hair the color of melted dark chocolate, eyes as blue as Poseidon's deepest waters, and possessed such handsomely chiseled features, that every God on Olympus except Zeus, became jealous of his good looks at one time or another. He was tall and muscular, his hands beautifully made, strong and sound - better to drive his chariot of flaming horses across the sky every morning. That day would be longer than any other day in the year, for that day was the Summer Solstice and his patron city of Rhodes was throwing a festival in his honor like they did every year. He was never late for the Festival of the Sun in Rhodes and reveled in being able to blend into the crowd without being noticed for who he actually was. Of course, being a bachelor God did not help him much when it came to the beautiful young women of Rhodes, but for some reason, today seemed somehow different from the previous years. He didn't know why, but he felt it keenly.

He glanced at Apollo, who was standing in the chariot next to him, ready to take command of the horses when he was given the signal. The young God's curly blonde hair sparkled in the sun trailing behind them, the same as his bronze skin and bright blue eyes. "You know what to do, right?" He asked like he did every year, and Apollo nodded, a grin on his handsome face.

"Aye - drive the horses across the sky until we hit your stables. I can more than handle it, I do it every year, remember?" He asked good-naturedly, and Helios smiled and nodded at his young nephew.

"I thank you, Apollo. You will be greatly rewarded for this." Apollo grinned.

"Your daughter, Lampetia . . . perhaps her hand would be a suitable reward?" He trailed off, and Helios grinned back.

"I'll think on it, Apollo. Lampetia is still a girl, yet to receive her monthly blood, and besides, I need her tending the Cattle of Thrinacia with Phaethusa. Not-to-mention her mother would gore me if she ever figured out I gave you to you without Neaera's blessing!" Apollo nodded as he gazed over the side at the emerald green treetops that moved in a blur underneath them.

"This year is going to be different than the other years . . ." He spoke quietly, and Helios glanced at him.

"You feel it too?" Apollo nodded.

"Every God does. Athena's been more nervous than usual, Dionysus has been drinking more and . . . rumors have it that Hera has too. No one knows what it is, but something is going to happen . . . for better or for worse." He spoke, and Helios nodded.

"Hopefully, it won't be too bad," He spoke and that was all the Sun God said before he handed the reins over to the young God standing beside him with a smile and a nod of his head. Apollo nodded back and took a firm hand on the reins before Helios vaulted over the edge of the golden chariot, shedding his Godly light and armor as he fell through the air and the clouds, to the hard, fertile earth below. He landed gracefully on his feet and breathed in deeply the smell of the earth, forests and running streams and creeks surrounding him. He stood, brushed himself off, and took another deep breath before he made his way through the large grove of olive trees toward his temple.

The Temple was a magnificent structure built in his honor, and one that Helios was more than happy to brag about to the other Gods and Titans whenever he had the chance. It was made purely of the finest marble Rhodes could afford, with tall Corinthian columns, and a flattering large stone statue of him set within the Temple itself. A large, domed ceiling made up of the most beautiful colored glass, depicted him riding his chariot across the beautiful sky, a halo of bright yellow light surrounding his head. His Temple was beautiful, his people, even more beautiful, hardy, fertile creatures, and his lands were fertile as well as the people that tilled them, heavy with grapes, wheat and olives every season. He could not begin to think of a better city to be the Patron God of.

Helios broke through the grove of olive trees a few minutes later and found himself in the vast gardens of the Temple, where his many people were grouped around the man standing on the Temple steps. A beautiful maiden was standing beside him but a little ways off; her eyes were downcast modestly to the marble floor. Helios knew that the man was Telemachus, the King, but the name of the maiden standing beside him, eluded him. He would know if it was one of his Priestesses, but he could not remember ever setting his eyes on her before. And this intrigued him and prodded him to get closer.

He gently pushed through his people, making his way to the front of the crowd, where King Telemachus was giving the opening speech before the festivities formally began. His hands were raised and a twinkle was in his brown eyes as he spoke. " . . . And let us give thanks to the Sun God, Helios, toward whom this festival is directed, and to who graces us with bountiful fields and fertile women every year!" The crowd cheered, but died down when Telemachus chose to speak again, "But nothing pertaining to this festival, could ever be possible, without the help of my lovely daughter, the Princess Euterpe!"

The crowd let lose an ear-shattering roar of applause at that, and Telemachus' voice faded away when Helios set his eyes upon the King's only daughter. He had heard rumors that she was a jewel from the other Goddesses who cared to take attention, but the description obviously did her a fabulous injustice! Her beauty was extraordinary! Her hair was of the darkest black, it was almost ebony, and was as long and as thick and as lustrous as the waters of the Styx. Her skin seemed made of the most beautiful white marble and was as flawless as the marble behind her and underneath her sandaled feet. Her eyes were of the lightest blue, they almost seemed aquamarine, and her lips were deliciously full and looked to be of a blood red. Helios swallowed a lump forming in his throat and his legs became weak at the sight of the beautiful Princess. Helios, the God of the Mighty Sun, was brought to his knees at the sight of a mere mortal Princess.

It was then, at the feeling of his knees growing weak and his heart beating faster than it ever had, that Helios knew that he _had_ to have the beautiful Princess of Rhodes as his. He wanted nothing more at that moment, than to bury his hands deep within her thick hair, press his lips to hers and then claim her as his. Of course, who was he kidding? The Princess Euterpe _would_ be his. She might even become his Queen . . .

Euterpe's eyes lightly scanned the crowd, a light blush tingeing her cheeks from how loud the applause and cheers had been, and eventually, they landed on Helios. Her eyes widened slightly when their eyes met, and he saw her too, swallow a lump forming in her throat. When their eyes connected, it was like one of Zeus' lightning bolts had crossed between them. The air between them was shocking and thick, the sexual tension, clearly palpable. Helios swallowed heavily and closed his eyes as he fought to rein himself in. He had never wanted to be inside a woman before, or as keenly, as he had wanted to be inside of the beautiful and young Euterpe at that given moment . . . to hear her gasp his name as she rode him . . .

His eyes opened when he sensed movement around him and he wrenched his licentious thoughts away from the Princess just long enough to see the crowds milling around him. Music was floating through the air now, alongside laughter and the sound of voices. The rich smells of roasting meats, honeyed desserts, sugared candies and other fruits, as well as rich wine, deliciously assaulted the senses. But none had the effect on the God that Euterpe had and continued to have.

Helios quickly found her moving through the crowd toward an old couple sitting at the royal table that he immediately recognized to be her grandparents, and made an immediate beeline towards her. His eyes were on her the entire journey and he found her body was beautifully well-proportioned for such a young woman of seventeen. She was indeed a daughter of Hera – those rumors had not lied, for how else could she have such Godly beauty?

Her breasts were small, yet still ample and full – breasts that were yet to stop growing. Her stomach was flat and rippling with corded muscle (_She must ride horses_, He thought in approval and slight lust as his thoughts immediately brought him back to the enticing picture of her above him, straddling his hips) and her hips were beautifully rounded, with long, shapely legs that he was able to see move through the thin fabric of her russet colored gown. He felt the inner God, the barbarian Titan, growl sensually within him for the young woman, and he smiled a sultry smile as he finally closed the distance between them, where he deftly and cleanly wrapped an arm around her waist. Then, with the finesse of a smooth courtier, he pulled her back through the crowds, toward his Temple behind them. There, thanks to the festival, who called for the Priests and Priestesses to mingle freely within the crowd, they were sure to have some privacy.

Euterpe let out a little gasp of fright and struggled against him for a moment before she caught sight of who he was. She let out another little gasp, and her tiny, dove-like hands flew to his strong arms, where they clenched at the taut muscles warily. "It's you! You're the one from the crowd . . . the one that was looking at me so blatantly and without any shame!" Helios' smile grew wider, crinkling the skin at the corner of his eyes, giving his eyes an affable twinkle, which calmed her somewhat. His lips parted in a low chuckle, showing his perfectly white and straightened teeth.

"Aye, 'tis the truth, although you must forgive me, Princess, if I caused any insult to you!" He began, before he ran a finger down her cheek. He caught the small shudder that flew unconsciously up her spine, and his eyes softened. "You are just so beautiful! I can hardly bring myself to tear the damned things away from you . . .!" A humbled twinkle appeared in Euterpe's eyes as his hands grasped her waist in place of his arms. She felt the heat of his skin through the thin, gossamer silk of her gown and another shudder moved down her spine as he drew her closer to him.

Her eyes narrowed in thought. "I know you from somewhere . . . I feel like I've seen you before . . ."

They were inside the Temple now, the sunlight streaming in through the domed ceiling high above them, and Helios stopped their movement, where he lowered them gently down to the ground. He immediately buried one of his hands within her hair and brought their faces close. Their breaths mingled, creating an air palpable with desire, want and need. They were up against a nearby marble pillar, Helios' back to it, where he swallowed.

"Oh, I think that you know me very well, Euterpe . . ." He whispered while his free hand moved down the small of her back, to firmly cup her ass. He continued once she bit her bottom lip and her breath picked up slightly. "You and your people worship me. I keep your people safe, well fed, fertile, and prosperous. I am, possibly, the most powerful being in the known universe aside from Zeus, and you, my dear, have caught my attention!"

It was then, that Helios kissed her, full upon her already burning lips. The kiss was hot, wet and deep and he gently coaxed them open, where he explored her with his tongue. She tasted like honey, like all the goodness in the world, and the God of the Sun wanted to weep at how much he loved her - how much he desired her. Fire was pulsating through his loins at the feel of her skin through the fine, gossamer silk of her gown . . . a fire that almost burned him when he touched her.

He gently bent her head back slightly, where he pressed gentle, loving kisses to her throat and the nape of her neck, his teeth grazing her slightly. His hand slowly moved the fabric of her gown up over her thigh, where it moved up and down the smooth skin of her leg. His large, warm hand was like a warm, lazy spring secret upon her thigh and the skin quivered underneath his light, finger-tipped touch. His muscular thigh moved between her shaky legs, and she let out a little breathless moan at the feel of him rubbing against her heated core.

Euterpe tasted like honey, but Helios tasted like Ambrosia and Nectar, with just the small hint of smoked meat from the sacrificial alters in the back of the temple.

And it was then, at the taste of him and when his hand was mere inches from caressing her most private of places, that Euterpe realized who he was.

She placed her hands on his chest and pushed him away, her eyes wide and fearful. He broke apart, startled, his hand moving out from underneath her gown to help brace her, lest she fall to the hard marble floor and hurt herself. "You are Helios?!" She gasped in shock and awe. Her grandmother had been right! She _had _captured the attention of a God! "You are . . . you are a God?" His eyes softened, although the fire burning within him still kept them alight.

"Aye, my beautiful Maiden, and I have never desired a woman as keenly as I do you as this very moment!" He told her and she tried to move back, out of his torturous embrace, but his strong arms still adamantly wrapped around her, kept them touching just so.

"You don't understand, my Lord! If I am seen in any man's embrace, I will be exiled, much less killed!" She hissed before swallowing and averting her eyes to the flawless marble floor. "This land also worships Artemis, thanking her for our bountiful herds of game! I am a virgin, and as such, it is punishable by the Virgin Goddess herself, if I give you my maidenhead before I am married!"

"But you are not denying me . . .?" He spoke slowly, almost warily, and she opened her mouth to speak, but found herself with nothing to say. He pursed his lips and looked down. She could sense the battle inside him to remain in control. To be sure he did nothing that he would regret later. He finally turned his eyes back onto her, and she saw the look of warring lust and love flickering through his eyes.

"I did not lie to you, Euterpe, when I said that I love you - that I desire you - with all my heart and soul. I will stay loyal to you, if only you lay with me this night! I swear to you, upon the River Styx, that you will not be harmed by Artemis as well! Even if I have to marry you, I will always be faithful and you will never be harmed while in my keeping! All this I swear upon those dark waters!" Euterpe swallowed, unsure about what she should do. She had already felt the desire that being close to him brought and she was unsure whether she felt that because he was a God, or because they did, in fact, already begin to feel the first touches of love for each other.

She placed her hands on his neck, where she kissed him on the cheek. It was such a heart-warming gesture, that Helios's eyes softened some more, and his grip on her softened as well. Oh _Aphrodite_ . . . this woman would be the death of him!

"My chamber is on the second floor of the palace, well-guarded for obvious reasons . . . I trust that you will find your way there?" He grinned as he, too, gripped her neck, and kissed her deeply and passionately.

"I will! I promise you, Euterpe, I will always find a way to come to you!"


	2. Prologue pt II

Later, Helios' sister, the Goddess Selene rode her chariot, drawn by her gentle black horses, across the sky that night when Apollo finally drove the horses of the sun into their own stables. She brought with her the night sky, bright moon and the twinkling stars. Euterpe stood on her balcony, her hands rubbing her bare upper arms in a desperate fight against the slight night chill. Her hair blew gently back from her body, and she took a deep breath, where she slowly let it out. Helios would be arriving soon - she felt it deep within her bones, almost like she was anticipating a long lost, beloved lover back from a war. Perhaps she was, she couldn't tell.

She soon found herself embellishing in a habit that she thought was long buried in her past. It was a rather embarrassing habit and that habit was biting her fingernails.

Euterpe chewed one down to a nub before she quickly went on to the next one. But before she could get done with that one, however, she felt a strong hand wrap gently around her wrist. She gasped and jumped in surprise and slight fear as an amused voice echoed throughout her ear.

"You shouldn't bite your nails, my love . . . it's a most unbecoming habit on a future Goddess," She immediately turned around and saw Helios smiling down at her. "Good evening, Euterpe," He spoke, inclining his head to her, and Euterpe found herself immediately blushing. Helios smiled gently, where he ran a finger down her cheek. "Although I daresay that blush _does _suit you!"

"You . . . you came!" She gasped in alarm, her eyes growing wide with the same emotion, and Helios cocked his head, looking at her in slight confusion.

"Why wouldn't I? I said I would. I promised on the waters of the Styx, too!"

"I just . . . I thought . . . Artemis –"

Helios laughed quietly at the mere fact of how much his hot-tempered niece, Artemis, intimidated her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the nape of her neck. "Don't worry, I handled Artemis before I came. She'll be quite busy for _quite_ a long time!" He promised her as his hands quickly moved to the clasps holding her dress onto her body. He quickly undid them and watched as the gossamer light pink satin of her nightgown fell to pool around her feet. Her nudity was suddenly shown to the darkness of the still and clear night and he saw her shiver slightly as the cool night breeze kissed her bared skin.

Helios chuckled huskily as he gently took her hands in his and held them out on both sides of them. His fingers entwined with hers in a gesture so intimate, so loving, that she knew deep in her heart that he _had _to love her! His lips were pressed to the side of her neck, and she felt her eyelids grow heavy with desire as he spoke,

"Oh, Euterpe - oh, my _love . . ._ I could give you the moon and the sun and the stars, and still I would love you and try to give you _more _. . .!" His breath fanned out over her neck and she let out a little moan as his hands left hers and started roaming her body, over the taut planes of her stomach, to her breasts with their little hardened, light pink nipples, and down to the tiny down of curling black hair at the apex of her thighs, where they delved in-between them. Euterpe gasped and immediately closed her eyes, her hand moving down to grasp his wrist as he began stroking her. She couldn't remember, not once in her life, reacting as violently to a man as she was to Helios at that one, intimate moment, when the air around them seemed to turn electric. It was like they were made for each other, and her hand snaked behind her, to better curl into his thick, wavy brown locks.

She swallowed and turned her head so that their lips were barely touching. "If I wanted, would you give me a son - a child - Helios?"

The breath immediately caught in Helios' throat at that moment, and a dark growl rumbled from deep within his chest. He had wanted to hear those words from a willing woman in eons, and finally, he found one who could become his wife, his Queen - the mother to his children! Life, could not get any better, it seemed.

"Of course I would Euterpe! But how do you know it would be a son?" She smiled.

"My breasts are full of love and life. My hips are round and well apart. Such women, they say, have many sons!"

Helios grinned and his bare hands on her naked, flushed body, felt glorious. His intimate caresses made her feel wanton, yet loved and cherished by this man. He was a God. He could have any woman on the earth, and yet he said that he desired _her_. Was she truly this loved by the God of the Sun, or was he lying through a ruse, just to be able to sleep with her?

"Where do you want me to make love to you for your first time, Euterpe?" He whispered to her in a voice that made even more wanton shivers go down her spine. "Over here, facing Mount Olympus, where all the Gods can see the heated lovemaking between a God and his greatest lover? Or would you prefer to go traditional, and take the bed?"

Euterpe didn't have to answer him, he could tell in the tensing of her body, what her answer was. Helios cupped her cheek, where he kissed her gently. She was hesitant, but then she was returning his kisses, quickly picking up confidence. What he wanted to do was to take her over to the bed, roll her over and pin her down, but he knew he couldn't do that. He needed to be patient with her. He needed to take her somewhere that he knew they could not be interrupted.

"Close your eyes, my love . . ." He whispered as she dutifully closed her eyes, but her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, however.

"Close my eyes? Why, Helios?" She felt his lips curl up into a grin against her ear, which made her grin as well.

"It's a secret . . . a beautiful secret . . ." He whispered and she felt weightlessness and the floor beneath her bare feet disappear, before she was lowered back down again moments later. "Open your eyes . . ."

Euterpe opened her eyes and immediately gasped in awe. She must have been in his palace, for no where on Earth, could such a glorious place lie. It was made seemingly of nothing but the purest gold and whitest marble and shone with such a beautiful light that it momentarily took her breath away. Saying it was beautiful, would be a gross understatement.

Helios drew her up the stairs leading down from his balcony to his chambers, which had fluttering white curtains hanging in the archways, towards the insanely comfortable canopied bed. He sat down, where he drew her gently down onto his lap. He kissed her, keeping his tongue in his own mouth as she enjoyed the simple sensation of kissing. It wasn't long, however, before his hand drifted up from her back and found a gentle hold in her hair.

"Helios, I . . ."

He pulled away just long enough to speak, shaking his head gently. "Shh, sweetheart; don't speak. Don't even think."

"You called me sweetheart."

He couldn't help but smile at that. "Yes I did."

"Why can't I speak?"

He raised a brow before replying matter-of-factly. "It's harder to kiss that way . . ." He moved in to kiss her again, but she stopped him by placing a finger to his lips.

"_Why_ . . . can't I think?" She persisted and he chuckled gently.

"Don't think because thinking will make you nervous!" Helios replied easily, eyes closing as he kissed her finger. Then, in a move she was not expecting, he turned his head and parted his lips so that he could draw the digit into his mouth. He didn't miss the violent shudder that speared through her body as his tongue tasted her skin and slid over the delicate pad of her fingertip. He'd long since decided to abandon all thought himself, for fear he might find a reason to back out of this. He just needed to concentrate on her and not on the millions of ways this event could backfire.

He pulled away from her finger after a few more seconds and placed a heated kiss to her palm. "Don't think, Euterpe. Don't get nervous. And most of all . . . please don't back out. I want you, Euterpe. Let me take you . . . let me be your first."

When he finally looked back up at her, she had a rather shocked expression on her face at his bluntness. When she noticed his eyes were on hers, however, she looked away, a flush appearing over her cheeks. He faltered for a moment, not sure if she wanted to stop or continue, but then she took his hand into his. Separating one of his fingers from the rest, she licked the pad of his pointer finger, before opening her mouth, taking it in, and sucking. A soft groan escaped his lips as his eyes closed - his mind spinning a similar situation for him, except it featured her tongue and lips exploring a completely different and infinitely more sensitive appendage of his.

Helios opened his eyes again, just in time to watch her slide his finger from between her lips, and with her eyes still on his hand murmur, "I want you too, Helios –!"

She never finished what she was going to say, however, because the next moment, he had her pinned down on the bed, his lips on hers as he kissed her hungrily. The way he was pushing her back allowed him to quickly take advantage of her nudity – something that suited the both of them well. He slid his hand up her thigh and he grinned against her lips as her hand moved to cover his. He could tell she didn't know whether to be encouraging or discouraging, as his hand slid up her bare skin to her hip.

She wasn't wearing anything . . .

He found himself still grinning as he stroked her lips boldly with his tongue, trying to coax them open. She didn't seem to catch the hint, however, but he wasn't bothered. As he distracted her there, he slid his hand further up her body. Her hand still covered his, and her stomach quivered as their hands slid over her taut abdomen. Their hands slid all the way up to cover one of her breasts. Her eyes widened, and in her surprise, she gasped. Her lips finally parted, and he slid his tongue into her mouth to brush against hers.

Helios had to give her credit. She picked up new things quite quickly, which wasn't often the case with Princesses like her, he found. It didn't take long until she ceased mirroring his movements and began to explore on her own. Her free hand buried in his hair, but her other hand remained covering his as he brushed his hands over her breasts. She was still new to things, however, and she still hadn't gotten the concept of adding the need to breathe into all that yet. He gave her a moment to collect herself, drawing away long enough to look down at her body, where he took it all in with his ravenous gaze.

Her chest was heaving as she tried to regain her breath. She reached up to cover herself at first, but after a moment with her arms lifted, she seemed to change her mind, and propped herself up on the pillows, instead. She was blushing again, and he could tell she was about to cover herself up again, so he took her hands and laced their fingers together as he dipped his head to kiss her softly.

"Relax, sweetheart . . ." He murmured in her ear. She'd seemed to like the sentiment of the pet name very much the first time, so he hoped she would respond to it again.

She nodded furiously, but she didn't look anything but scared now. Hell, now that the barrier of clothes was long gone, she looked almost terrified! She was so terrified in fact that her hands were shaking in his. Sighing, he released her hands and wrapped his arms around her. She returned the gesture and he sat up with her, bringing her into his lap again. Her arms slipped under his, and she buried her face into his shoulder. "It's alright. We don't have to do this, Euterpe!" He managed to say. Where was his resolve now? She wouldn't stop him if he continued, but . . .

"Helios, wait!" Euterpe whispered against his chest. She was still breathing too hard. "Just . . . Just wait. Give me a moment . . . please!"

So he waited. He shifted, leaning against the wall that the bed was backed against. After a moment of just sitting there, he began to rub her back, intermittently pressing kisses to the top of her head and stroking her hair. Eventually her breathing calmed, and he felt her lips tracing his collarbone.

"Are you ready?" He asked, though by the tone of his voice, it sounded more like he was asking her, 'Are you sure?'

She pulled back, her eyes set and determined again. Confidently, she replied, "Yes."

It wasn't fair, the effect he had on her. The warmth of his hands on her skin made her shudder, and the pressure of his gaze on her body was a tangible force in and of itself! She'd all but melted under his gentle touch and dark eyes, to say nothing of his lips and tongue. And the way he tasted . . .

Before he could even move, she leaned forward and kissed him. She couldn't help but be a little smug at his surprise, although she knew that he was probably the smug one at the moment. He let her move at her own pace, sliding his hands into her hair and waiting for her tongue to brush across his lips before he parted them. Granted, his tongue rushed out to meet hers fairly quickly, but still, he'd waited for her, and that gesture in itself, was kind of sweet.

She realized now why her mother had been so adamant about not allowing her to let any man lay a finger on her. She was completely at his mercy now. He was bigger and stronger than she was, and they were alone in his bedroom, high up above the other mortals in his Sun Palace. Then, heaped on all of that, he was a _God_! She was completely naked and her strength was absolutely pitiful compared to his, and yet, did she not have a similar power over him? He seemed to be taking as much pleasure from this as she was, and she knew that if she asked it of him, he would stop. It might kill him to do so, but he would.

Curious to see what he would do, she shifted in his lap so that she straddled his hips, and buried one of her hands into his hair. The hand around her body shifted too, sliding down her back and around to cup her ass. He tugged her close to him in a gesture so sudden, it made her squeak slightly. Of course, that just made him chuckle as his lips fell from hers to trace kisses along her collarbone.

"What's so funny?" She demanded breathlessly.

"You're the one that's so funny! You squeaked! I've never hears a woman squeak before!" He replied mischievously as he lowered her down onto the bed. "Take off my tunic, Euterpe."

She felt dizzy from all the sensations, but she still had the self-control to cock a brow at him. Her earlier embarrassment was now gone. The thing was that it was hard to feel anything but confident and beautiful and sexy with the way he treated her. Even his question now, which by all rights should have made her blush and slap him, made her smirk instead. "What if I don't want to?" She challenged.

"You want to, Euterpe. Oh, you want to . . ." He spoke as he kissed the center of her chest, and the gesture made her shudder.

"You're an arrogant man, Helios . . ." She replied, even as she reached down for the clasps of his golden tunic. What was it about him that made her feel so bold? Now that she'd been given the time to acclimate to the situation, there was little fear left within her, and what little was left only added to the thrill. She shouldn't be doing this. She shouldn't be with him this way - she shouldn't be with him at all.

But she was.

And with a sudden burst of determination, she tugged at his clasps. She didn't look at more than his chest, though, until she'd helped him take the whole thing off. And then she pushed him back until he was sitting up, kneeling between her legs. Bending her knees behind her until she was kneeling on her knees before him, she reached out the minimal distance between them and touched his chest.

She'd seen men without their shirts on before, of course she had. She had seen men work out in the fields shirtless, as well as the guardsmen who trained and sparred shirtless in the courtyards of the palace, but she had never been so tempted to reach out and run both her hands down his chest, from the sparse, springy hairs at the top and down, over the smooth panes of his stomach. But that was what she did, her eyes on him as he sat perfectly still. He was watching her carefully though, observing every little emotion that crossed her features as she explored him, her fingers running over his strong, broad shoulders, his arms, and then his chest. His eyes followed her fingers as she moved even lower, tracing the defined muscles of his abdomen before one hand slid down to rest on the outside of his thigh. The other, she allowed a single finger to run down the center of his stomach. It dipped into the concave of his navel before sliding down the dusting of fine hairs beneath it. He was suddenly breathing much harder as her finger trailed even lower, but his breath caught and he sucked in a sharp breath as she quickly slipped her finger down his shaft.

His sudden sharp intake of breath made her quickly retract her hand to her body again, her cheeks reddening and her eyes growing wide at his reaction. Ah, and there was the self-conscious hesitation from before. "S-sorry, I won't . . ."

His hand suddenly found her wrist, and her eyes snapped back onto his as he gently lowered her down on the bed again, where he fell atop her. They seemed slightly clouded and unfocused, but they were very sure. "Do that again, Euterpe . . ." This time he sounded as breathless as she expected she herself did. Well, it seemed like she did have the same power over him that he had over her.

He released her wrist, and, with less hesitation, she reached in-between his legs. She paused when he gasped again, and he dropped his head to her shoulder. He leaned forward, his arms propping up his body on either side of her, and he kissed her neck gently. With permission granted to her, she explored the foreign contours of his body. It was different the second time, she realized, harder. As she continued her explorations, she listened as his gasps turned into grunts and breathless moans.

He was fighting to remain still, she realized suddenly, when she wrapped her hands around him and slid her hands down. His body immediately jerked, causing his breath to come faster against her neck. Curious, she slid her hand back up, smiling as he jerked aganist her again. Finding that she very much enjoyed his reactions, she wrapped both her hands around him and stroked him, up and down, up and down, until he was breathing hard and fast against her neck, moaning intermittently against her skin. She smirked, as he obviously enjoyed very much what she was doing to him, and when he gasped for her to be faster or harder, she complied.

Just as she was wondering what exactly was supposed to happen after two similar commands, his body jerked forward, his hands fisted in the sheets, his breath hissed in between his teeth, and . . .

She didn't see what happened, because all of a sudden, she found herself being pinned down to the bed again, away from the spot they had just been in before. His lips were on hers again, his tongue slipping between her lips, and his hands were all over her body. This was either a thank you, or whatever she'd done to him had caused him to snap, or perhaps even a little bit of both. Whatever it was, he wasn't holding back anymore to let her explore.

"Your turn . . .?" She asked, chest heaving as he finally pulled away to kiss his way down her body. His lips trailed down the center of her chest, his hands sliding down her body along with them. Her body felt too hot, her skin too tight as he flicked his tongue over the tip of her breast, chuckling as her back arched, ever-so-slightly. She might have pouted if he hadn't blown a warm breath over the other side, making the skin tighten and pucker before he closed his mouth over it, pulling with his lips and tongue. Without thinking, she buried her hand in his hair. When he pulled away to move lower over her body, she found herself still breathing way too hard, but she didn't mind. She'd just put him into a certain state, so now he was returning the favor and rather vengefully.

His lips continued down to her stomach, his tongue delving into the dip of her navel, before sliding lower. His hands spread her thighs and he shifted his entire body lower between her legs. Suddenly void of the distraction, she realized how . . . warm she felt down there, and her cheeks flushed. "Wh-what are you . . .?" She broke off in a gasp as his tongue – Gods, what did he think he was _doing_!? – flicked over a part of her that she hadn't even known existed, or at least, a part she hadn't known could cause such pleasure to dart up through her stomach and down through her legs, bringing that pulsing heat with it.

Her cheeks were so flushed, but each stroke of his tongue made her hips twitch and the hand still in his hair to tighten. And then she realized she didn't want him to stop. He seemed to realize that too, because then he started sucking, and she stopped trying to speak. So this was the kind of pleasure women raved about - the reason they locked themselves away with lovers for hours. Did this make Helios her lover? The thought of doing this with him again . . .

He stopped her from thinking then, because he slid one of his fingers into her, stretching her open just enough to stroke her from the inside, and then he had her experiencing that same, breathtaking pleasure he had earlier when they were still on her balcony. Soon, she found herself gasping, back arching off of the bed as her mind seemed to shut out everything but what was happening that very moment.

When she fell back down onto the bed, he rose up over her, grinning rather smugly. Of course, speaking that he had so recently reduced her to a gasping heap, her stomach still quivering, she supposed he had a reason to be smug. "That was . . ." She began, her chest still heaving, but he silenced her with a kiss.

"I'm not done with you yet."

Euterpe couldn't help but grin back. Gods, she loved that grin of his. How many people got to see it so many times in a row? "You're not?" She asked him coyly. The things he'd just done to her should have made her feel at least a little embarrassed, but she couldn't. She just felt so, so . . .

"I'm not . . ." He repeated, kissing her again, more deeply this time. He trailed off as he settled his body over hers – in-between her hips.

"Oh!"

Helios grinned at her in surprise as he shifted his hips against hers. "You weren't expecting me to do this with you flaccid, were you?"

Euterpe frowned. "But the servants and handmaidens said that men –"

"They've obviously never slept with a God before!" Ah, there was that arrogance again, that male smugness . . . and that grin of his. "Don't worry, sweetheart, I know what I'm doing. You're in good hands!"

"I trust you." She assured him, cupping his cheek. Now this, she'd heard this part would hurt, and she already felt a little tender, but like she'd said; she trusted him. "Teach me, Helios."

She seemed to melt as he entered her, her flesh surrendering to the force of their mutual desire, despite the pain that shot throughout her body as he broke through her virgin barrier. Her arms fell away from his body, allowing him to set a steady, driving rhythm before her hands tentatively alighted on the broad expanse of the back of his shoulders. He craved her with an intensity that went beyond physical need. It was only with her love and faith that he held back for her own pleasure.

They whispered of love and longing to each other as their passion rose, the words both new and achingly familiar. Lips clung and hands wandered, leaving invisible imprints of possession on the straining bodies. She gasped as the tension started to wrack her form, her senses spinning under the influence of his mercifully relentless stimulation.

"Oh Gods . . . Helios!" He heard her broken cry with all the intensity of a scream, though it had only been a sobbed confession divulged in a heated breath. Pushing aside his resentment of the necessity of concealment, he fastened his lips to hers, accepting her gasps of pleasure like tribute to their long-suppressed love. He offered his own quiet groan as the renewed tightening of her body drove him to momentary completion.

She had asked him to teach her . . . and he did.

* * *

It wasn't long after that, that Euterpe and Helios were married.

When Helios asked her father for her hand in marriage, Telemachus had jumped at the opportunity. News quickly spread through the Greek world, and the Kings of many cities jumped at being the first to send their gifts and congratulations to the woman who was marrying a God -a mortal woman who would soon become immortal.

The Gods and Goddesses rejoiced throughout Olympus. They had never seen Helios as happy as when he was with Euterpe - his beautiful Euterpe. She was the Euterpe that made his heart sing and his step become lighter – the Euterpe that made his day shine even brighter, and his nights tiring with passion-filled lovemaking.

It wasn't long after they were married, and when Euterpe had her status cemented as the Goddess of the Sun, that news rang out throughout Mount Olympus and the Greek world, that she was expecting a child.

Helios had never been so joyous in his life. A son or a daughter with a wife is something to be celebrating about, but a son or a daughter with the wife you love above all others, is a cause for major celebration.

When that child was born a boy, he was immediately made Prince of Helios' realm. The child was named Phaeton, which meant 'Shining'. It was a perfect testament to his father's station amongst the Gods, and he was the apple of his parents' eye. His hair was the colored of honey, and his skin was just the perfect amount of being sun-kissed. His eyes were bluer than the skies and Helios took him racing in his chariot every day. He seemed the young personification of the sun and everyone loved him.

But it seemed that Phaeton would be the only boy that Helios and Euterpe would ever have together. Throughout the fallowing years, Euterpe would give Helios seven other children: Helia, Aegiale, Aetheria, Merope, Astris, Phoebe and Dioxippe. They were all born girls. They were all beautiful, shining examples of their parents' love and their mother's beauty, but Helios did not hold that against Euterpe. Not once. He loved his wife and all his children, and it looked like the Golden Age of the Gods would forever be around.

But he and all the other Olympian Gods were proven wrong.

Ares, his best friend and a fellow God, was killed, usurped by Kratos, a son of Zeus and a mortal Spartan woman. After that, everything went to Hades.

Phaeton had died.


	3. Chapter 1

**Hey, I do not own God of War, or the Gods held within, except Euterpe. I don't even own their children or Helia, they are all characters in Greek Mythology. Don't believe me? Look it up.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Helios' legs were broken. They had snapped when his flaming chariot had spun, out of control, through the sky and crashed into a nearby marble veranda in a ball of fire. They lay at inhuman angles behind him - crumpled and useless. He was coughing up blood as well. His beautiful, spirited horses were dead, his chariot was ruined beyond quick repair, and his legs were broken. And he was coughing blood. He couldn't teleport, so there was no way he could get back to Euterpe and the children and warn them –

Helios nails automatically gouged into the marble as Kratos grabbed him by the back of his tunic and dragged him back towards him. The God of the Sun gritted his teeth and tried to drag himself away from the rage-engulfed Spartan, but it was pointless. The Ghost of Sparta was too strong, and Helios was just too weak at the moment. He eventually gave up and slumped to the marble floor in defeat. This was it. With his legs broken, there was no way that he would ever be able to fight back. He was going to die here, without even saying goodbye to Euterpe and his children. He wouldn't be able to tell them that he loved them. He wouldn't be able to tell Euterpe that he loved her with all his heart and soul - that she was his everything - that she and the children (mainly she) was all the goodness left in his life ever the Great Wars.

"Do not worry, Helios . . . I'll tell Euterpe that you love her!" Kratos hissed into his ear, and Helios gritted his teeth.

"You stay away from her, Spartan! She is innocent in this! Our daughters are innocent as well!" He snapped back and Kratos laughed.

"Your daughter . . . now which one was she? I think she was the second born . . .? Well, anyway, she tasted very sweet . . . almost like -!"

Helios interrupted her by letting out a roar of rage and jerked violently against him. "You touched her?! If you touched her, I'll kill you, Spartan! You let me go – you let me heal! I swear to _Zeus _-!"

Helios was immediately put down with a slamming of his head against the marble floor underneath them. He lay there, dazed, and it was then that Kratos' hands were on either side of his head, twisting his neck painfully back and forth. It was then, with abject horror that Helios knew what was happening. He roared in pain, rage and fear as Kratos' movements became more violent. Pain at the feeling of his head being ripped from his very body, and rage at what Kratos' would do to his family and how he did not have the balls to face him when he wasn't wounded. Fear . . . that he would not be able to protect them.

A tear slid down Helios' bloody cheek and he had just enough time to think about how much he loved Euterpe, before Kratos let out a grunt of exertion. And then, with a mighty pull, Helios' vision turned to black.

* * *

With a flourish, Kratos threw open the doors to the throne room of Palace of the Sun located on Mount Olympus a few hours later. Dust swirled up at the sudden movement, and Kratos was shocked at how dimly lit the place was now that Helios and the sun was dead and gone. The halfway melted candles sitting on the candelabrums that lined the dark pool stretching the length of the hall were very dimly lit, and the moon tried desperately to show herself through the tightly interwoven dark clouds.

His footsteps echoed hauntingly throughout the crumbling hall, and the water in the pool sent ripples along its inky black surface. Kratos' ears perked when he heard quiet sobbing coming from down the hall. He squinted in the distance and saw a large, slumped figure crying in Helios' golden throne. It was brighter there, and six tables were in front of the figure, with four burning stumps of candles on each corner of each table.

Kratos slowly moved along the left side of the pool towards the five tables and one figure, his hand warily on the hilt of his blades. When he finally neared them, his eyes widened in abject horror at what he was seeing. Euterpe - the beautiful and prideful Euterpe - was the sobbing figure in Helios' golden throne that Kratos had spied across the room when he had first entered. She was clutching at the headless corpse of Helios sitting cold, bloodied and limp in his throne. Euterpe herself was sitting on the lap of the corpse, her feet tucked up underneath her. She was sobbing into the lifeless body's golden armored chest, her dirtied hands fisting in its silk red cloak. Kratos looked to the side and saw that the six tables with their four candles each, was each holding a body of one of Helios and Euterpe's seven beautiful daughters. The tables held the six daughters that Kratos had unmercifully butchered and then later bragged to Helios about earlier as he killed him.

For the first time since his bloody rampage on his quest for Zeus, Kratos felt guilty. He always had held a great respect for Euterpe - she had oftentimes reminded him of Lysandra - and just the sight of the beautiful Euterpe in such a state as this, set his heart aching for his dead wife. The sight of her and her drowning grief, sitting on the cold, lifeless lap of her beloved dead husband, who she had loved with her very life, struck him like an icy arrow through the heart.

Kratos swallowed heavily. "Euterpe . . ."

Euterpe gasped and her head shot up in alarm. The movement was so fast, that the fluttering of bird's wings could be heard as they vacated the near empty palace. Her eyes were scarlet and puffy from her sobs, and when she saw him, she let out another heart-wrenching sob. "Leave me be, Kratos! What more can you possibly take from me!" Kratos took a step forward.

"Euterpe, please, understand –!"

"Understand _what_?" Euterpe roared at him in sobbing frustration as she successfully interrupted him. "You have taken my husband from me and my daughters too! You took away my love and my soul! _Look_ at me Kratos! I am _finished_! I _cannot_ go on! It pains me to breathe without him! I feel like I have lost Phaeton again, and I can barely _stand it_!"

Euterpe buried her head back into the armored chest of Helios' corpse, and Kratos moved forward and placed a gentle hand on Euterpe's shoulder, where he squeezed gently and in what he hoped was a comforting manner. "I am sorry, Euterpe, truly I am!" He confessed quietly, and Euterpe's sobs seemed to cease. She brought her head back up and gazed at him with those pityingly beautiful blue eyes, and Kratos realized, despite her tear-streaked, dirty appearance, what Helios had fell so madly in love with, and whom he had tried so desperately to fight to get back to at the end. Euterpe's lavender tunic was torn and muddied and her hair was dirty and matted as well. But despite all that, she was still such a beautiful woman who had housed the might of the untameable sun in her womb with every child that she bore to her husband.

Tears started welling up in her eyes again as she spoke, "Kratos, murderer of my children and husband, you to dare to try and reassure me? I am very aware of the misery you have wrought upon me and my daughters. I am keenly aware of how you slaughtered them like a wolf amongst sheep - how you raped my second oldest daughter, Aegiale, and then cruelly bragged about it to my husband as you tore his head away from his body. I know how you tore the head from my husband's body after you tortured and beaten him as well - after you broke his legs so that he couldn't return to me! You ruthlessly cut down my family and your hands wear their blood like _gloves_!" She looked away at that moment and closed her eyes. She put a dainty hand to her mouth, where a couple of low, soft sobs spilled forth from her lips. Kratos swallowed again, feeling like he himself, was about to cry. "Praise be to the Furies! For on this day, Kratos . . . you will meet_ your end_!"

Euterpe then drew the sword sheathed to her husband's dead corpse, and launched herself at Kratos, her eyes wide and mad with determination and pain. Kratos firmly grabbed onto the wrist that held the sword and knocked the sword to the ground as his free arm wrapped around her small waist. Kratos' face remained expressionless as Euterpe immediately struggled valiantly in his arms, until the fresh sobs came and she started weakly beating at his chest instead.

"Euterpe, I cannot kill you – _not you_! Please do not make me!" He told her, his voice heavy with emotion as he shook his head. "I have loved you since the first moment I saw you! You do not know how jealous I have been – seeing you so happy with Helios all these years -!"

"You are such a monster, Kratos – such a _fucking monster_! How could you do this to me when you claim that you love me! Kill me, Kratos, _please_! I _need_ him; I can't _live_ without my Helios! Kill me, so that I may be reunited with my family – so that I may be reunited with _him_!"

At her sobbing begs, Kratos hugged Euterpe to him, allowing her to cry into his shoulder. Her small, now frail body shook with the force of her sobs as he silently drew one of his blades. He gently lowered the sobbing Euterpe to the crumbling marble floor underneath their feet. Her eyes were closed, and she was sobbing piteously, almost like a small child who was lost. With every ounce of respect for her in his body, Kratos brought the sword plunging down into her stomach. Euterpe let out a gasp of slight pain as her eyes opened wide. Her face stayed like that for a moment before it relaxed, and a look of thankfulness appeared instead.

"Thank you, Kratos . . ." She whispered as a beam of moonlight finally managed to break through the clouds and enveloped the dying body of Euterpe, beloved of Helios, the God of the Sun, and their eight children. Euterpe smiled then, bringing Kratos back to a peaceful time when he would catch a fleeting glimpse of the beautiful Euterpe walking through Hera's gardens with her seven beautiful daughters. Kratos loved her then as keenly as he did now, but he knew her love was only for Helios and always had been. He had been jealous of how their love had remained so pure, so untainted before the opening of Pandora's Box.

He was still jealous of that love.

Glistening tears started falling down Euterpe's cheeks then as she remembered a time before the disasters that wrecked havoc on the Gods . . . a time when everything had been so damn simple . . .

_"Close your eyes, my love . . ." Helios whispered as Euterpe dutifully closed her eyes. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, however._

_"Close my eyes? Why, Helios?" Euterpe felt his lips curl up into a grin against her ear, which made her grin as well._

_"It's a secret . . . a beautiful secret . . ."_

When Kratos withdrew the blade, Euterpe released one last long breath, and then lay still. Euterpe had finally rejoined her husband and her family in the afterlife and for a moment, a few rays of sunlight broke through the clouds to fall on her alongside the moonlight.

Kratos stood and sheathed his blade again, but spun around when he heard a gasp. A young woman was standing behind him, her hand to her mouth and her beautiful blue eyes wide with horror as she gazed at the corpses of her parents. It took Kratos a moment before he realized that this was Helia, the oldest and favorite daughter of Helios. She was well known throughout Mount Olympus as being as beautiful as her mother and having the charm and intelligence of her father, as well as being the love interest of Hermes, the Messenger of the God.

Kratos glanced behind him at the six tables. He vaguely wondered how he didn't notice that one table was missing in the first place, but then shook the question from his head. He turned back to Helia.

"Why did your mother –"

"She didn't know I was alive . . ." Helia interrupted him, her eyes still frozen on the corpses. "I fled with Hermes to a safe place when the Titans first started their attack. He had to leave me on orders of Zeus, and I somehow made my way back here, foolishly praying that my family would still be alive."

"You should escape. Return to Rhodes; your grandfather will take care of you there." Kratos told her, and Helia wrenched her eyes away from the bodies of her parents, where she focused them onto Kratos instead. They burned into him with a ferocity that Kratos felt himself almost shrink from. She had inherited her cold eyes from her father, and Kratos vaguely felt a little fear of the young woman.

"Rhodes is destroyed. You should know that well, Spartan, speaking you are the one who did it!" She reminded him coldly, and Kratos nodded and averted his eyes, suddenly realizing that she spoke the truth. It was because of his attack on Rhodes, that Helios had become enraged at him. Not only had he destroyed his patron city beyond repair, but he had also destroyed the lasting remnants of Euterpe's family.

"Come with me then. I will get you to a place of safety." He told her, and Helia let out a bark-like laugh, but complied nonetheless.

"It is ironic, really. I am to travel with the murderer of my beloved family! Zeus is truly a cruel man with a perverse sense of humor!" She spoke as she descended the steps toward them. She moved over to her mother, where she laid a gentle hand on the woman's moon soaked cheek. A few tears slipped out from underneath her daughter's eyelids, but nothing else betrayed her pain. She quietly slipped off her mother's locket, the locket that held the portraits of both her mother and father, and clasped it around her neck. It joined another locket holding the portraits of both Hermes, her betrothed, and her deceased older brother, Phaeton, of whom she had been most close too out of her siblings.

She then stood and moved over to the headless corpse of her father, where she gently put her hand on his chest. A swift prayer was uttered from her lips, a prayer to save their souls, and she gently took a golden ring off her father's finger. It was the Ring of Sunfire, and controlled the last light known in the universe. As long as the rich golden band with the peculiar yellow glowing stone was kept in Helios' bloodline and was never broken, there was still hope that another Sun could rise in the sky one day.

Helia stood then, her face steely, her eyes free of tears, and Kratos nodded. He looked along the ground and saw the glinting gold sword of Helios lying bloodied on the marble beside the corpse of Euterpe. Kratos picked it up and wiped it off with a scrap of clothe before he held it out to her.

"Can you wield a sword?" Helia scoffed.

"Can I wield a sword?"

Helia performed a few impressive moves before she suddenly pointed the sword at Kratos' throat. Kratos did not understand why, but he froze. The motion made Helia grinned. "If I wanted to Spartan . . . I could slit your throat right now and you wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. Can I wield a sword? _Hah_! After the death of Phaeton, father taught me and my sisters of age, how to wield every weapon known to man. I was the most proficient in swordplay." Her eyes became hard then, her voice even harder. Her voice lowered substantially as she moved to stand directly in front of him, the sword's width. He flinched again as the blade bit harder into the skin of his throat, causing a thin line of blood to flow down his body from the point in his neck.

"Now that I have his sword and ring, my son will become the new God of the Sun when this is over. The Sun lives on – whether you want it to or not!" She arched an eyebrow. "Any last words, Ghost of Sparta?"

"Not if you don't live." Kratos told her coldly, his eyes becoming as cold as hers, and Helia's eyes narrowed in suspicion, but her composure was still iron hard.

"What do you mean?"

"Face it Helia! Without me, you won't survive this! Your future son may be the new God of the Sun, but only if I am here to protect you!" He told her and Helia hesitated. She knew he was right. Who knew how long Hermes and Zeus among the scant few other Gods, would survive. The Gods were a dying breed, and Kratos seemed like he wasn't. Kratos would survive this, and Helia would be a fool not to journey with him.

She nodded then. "I may be crazy . . . but you have a deal, Ghost of Sparta. By the honor of my father, Helios, don't you dare break your promise to me!" Kratos' eyes flashed.

"Promise on the memory of your mother, and I will do so." He told her, and Helia gazed at him in curiosity.

"Why do I have to promise on my mother?" Kratos smiled.

"Promise on your mother . . . because your mother was the greatest woman to have ever lived."


	4. Author's Note

**I regret to inform you that there will be a temporary hiatus on all of my stories having to do with the fact that there is something wrong with the copy/paste mecanism in my computer, which is what I use to post my chapters on fanficiton. Whenever I try to copy/paste, both my internet and wordperfect (yeah, I know, I'm oldschool) show a 'Not Responding' box. Its just recently been doing this, and please, if anyone knows how to solve this, it would great! :)**

**So, until I figure out what is wrong with this, chances are that I will get VERY few oportunities to post. Again, I am really sorry for all my dedicated fans, including Superdani a., Kassey4221 and many others, I hoped to get this fixed very soon!**

**With love as always!**

**Nagiana**


	5. Chapter 2

**Okay, okay, okay, I'm really, really sorry for not updating this thing in about a frickin' decade (it seems like :)) but I underestimated how hard this story would be for me to right, ideas wise. So, I've come to conclusion that this is probably going to be a really short story compared to my other ones, so, yeah, here's the next chapter, which I'm kinda proud of :)**

* * *

"Pandora's Box is in the viewing room a few miles this way. I've only been there a couple of times, but I'm pretty sure I know the way from memory." Helia spoke brusquely as she led the way down one of the beautifully painted corridors of Mount Olympus towards the circular vestibule that held the blue flames surroudning Pandora's Box.

Kratos fallowed closely behind her, intensely aware of the hostility she held towards him that rolled off her in waves, as well as the intense desire she held to just simply leave him behind. She could hunt down Hermes, they would find a way to get to Zeus or just leave and then come back when everything was nice and peaceful and quiet again. But deep down, she knew it would never play out like that. For one, Kratos barely let her out of his sight except to go to the bathroom, and even then he hung over her like a very, _very_ protective bodyguard. And secondly, things were far too complicated for that simple plan . . . far, _far_ too complicated.

For one . . . she had not seen Hermes once since she left their hiding place to find her family. That alone, scared her to no end.

Kratos's eyes scanned the corridors as they traversed them, his eyes flitting over the beautiful frescos painted upon the smooth surfaces that he had seen dozens of times but yet never truly _saw _them. There were frescos of when the Gods' were still young - still ethereally beautiful. There was Zeus, with long, cascading black hair and beard, and Hera, her hair long and light brown and not a wrinkle upon her sternly beautiful face. There was Athena, with hair as brown as chocolate and Helios and Euterpe - Helios's strong, handsome features that were so noble, and her mother's soft, pixie-like features that screamed of her beauty. And then, often standing in front of Helios and Euterpe was Phaeton . . . all handsome and regal with a tall, leanly muscular body and curly hair that grew darker into brown as he aged, as well as his bronze skin that seemed to shine whenever it was touched by the rays of the sun. Helia would most often be standing beside Hermes, to the left of her parents, his arm around her waist, pulling her back into his front, and the both of them looking so out of place compared to the others. The Gods often wondered how a trickster like Hermes, with flaming hair and smug blue eyes managed to win himself the beautiful black-haired prodigal daughter of the very sun. Kratos too found himself often wondering that.

He soon figured out that he wasn't alone, however, when he caught Helia looking at the frescos that contained her family and her and Hermes the most. Perhaps she couldn't help but observe the man that she had derived her namesake from, or maybe it was just because she was missing the two people that she had ever called her parents . . . the two people who had ever loved her unconditionally.

His eyes then fell on Helia marching in front of him, and found that she looked like Euterpe more than anything now, although a few of her personality quirks and mannerisms were so much like Helios, that Kratos felt himself multiple times, getting mentally slapped across the face! Her hair had grown longer since they started this strange journey together. Her mother's black locks now reached her waist, and were as wavy as her father's chocolate brown locks had been. Her eyes had grown colder and sterner since she had witnessed the mercy killing of her mother and the brutal murder of her sisters, and then having to see the headless corpse of her adoring father. At times, she could hardly believe that she was traveling and being protected by the man who had shattered her family into thousands of tiny pieces! Of course, ever since the death of Phaeton, Helia couldn't exactly say that her family life had been one big field of daisies. It had been quite the opposite, in fact.

And of course, as he continued to observe her, Kratos could understand just how someone like Hermes could love her so passionately – to the point to where he would willingly stand beside her in Olympus frescoes, which most often than not, was only afforded to the women the Gods considered themselves forever tied through by either love or marriage. Helia was beautiful and if there was anything about Hermes that he could say with absolute certainty, was that he loved beautiful things. He also liked having beautiful things in his possession and Helia was definitely a beautiful possession.

His eyes snapped onto her hand at that moment, which was clutching at one of the lockets around her neck. It was smaller than the one containing her mother and father's portraits, but it was no less ornate, and the gold shimmered in the bright candlelight whenever she would turn a certain angle in the light. Her lips were moving, in what, Kratos didn't know, maybe a wordless prayer, although to whom, he did not know as well. Anyone who would hear her was dead and anyone who _could _hear her was probably in a position to where they wouldn't be able to help her.

He hurried to catch up to her and then immediately shortened his stride to keep up with her. He glanced down at the locket clutched in her hand again. "Whose locket are you holding?"

"I am currently holding the one that contains Hermes and Phaeton." She answered him simply, coldly, and Kratos nodded in understanding.

"Ah, yes . . . I remember Phaeton well. He was a precocious lad . . . kind too. He was a handsome boy as well - reminded me a lot of your father in his mannerisms." Helia nodded.

"I grew up with Phaeton, Kratos. He was my playmate and my best friend. We were born within a year of each other, and there is not one childhood memory that I possess, that does not also contain him," She laughed a little then, the first laugh he had ever heard her issue since this whole thing began. "I remember that he used to dip my pigtails into the ink pots when I wasn't looking, and that mother would be _so_ angry at him because of how hard it was to get the ink out of my hair. I had much lighter hair then, you see - the color of father's, and it definitely showed!" Her grin disappeared then and was replaced with one of sorrow. "When he died, it was like all joy had left the house. Aegiale and Aetheria knew what was happening, and they mourned him appropriately, but Merope and Phoebe where too young to understand. They couldn't understand why Phaeton wasn't returning home, and I think that was what truly broke my mother's heart . . . that Phaeton _was_ never coming home."

"I remember the day he died well. Your mother cried for three straight days and nights, and your father was as volatile as Hades was on his best day!" Kratos told her. "Everyone on Olympus mourned his passing, Helia. There was not a God on Olympus, whose lives was not touched by that boy. Dionysus mourned him in drink . . . Zeus mourned him in storms. Even Poseidon retreated to his palace and made the seas volatile." Helia nodded.

"Yeah, I know. Mother _was _inconsolable. All she did was sit on her and father's balcony all day and _mope_ and _weep_. Occasionally, I would walk by with one of the younger ones on the way to the stables or to the kitchens, and I would see father with her. He would be hugging her from behind and they would be gazing up at the sun like it was something to be revolted with, something that was evil. I don't think father ever loved his horses after what happened – not nearly as much as he did before Phaeton died, anyway. I also think Zeus revolted him . . . he blamed his nephew for Phaeton's death, because it had been Zeus who had struck him from the sky without hesitation. It was almost like he blamed them, Zeus . . . and himself."

"But he did try to stop him . . . _didn't_ _he_?" He asked her, his eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion, and Helia nodded.

"Oh yeah, of course he did! He did everything save for getting down on his knees and begging. But he did swear on the river Styx, which . . . he probably shouldn't have done in the first place," She heaved a sigh them as they turned a corner. "And then Astris and Dioxippe came along."

"They were the youngest daughters, right? They were the twins?" Helia nodded.

"I think . . . I think they were hoping that one of them would be a boy . . . that they could have another little boy to fill Phaeton's place in our hearts, but . . . we all know they weren't. I think that was the day that the darkness truly took my father's heart. He loved Astris and Dioxippe - like he loved all of us - but he had lost his little boy, the-the boy that they had, had when they had nothing else left in the world and it almost been as if they had lost me too! It was like . . . my parents' marriage almost dissolved on the spot the second that they learned that both of them had been born girls. My mother was already in grief from losing her son - she wasn't prepared to lose her husband too." Kratos shook his head.

"He was a selfish bastard."

"Why do you say that?"

Kratos scoffed. "How could you _not_ think that? He impregnated his wife when he knew how much mental pain she was in, simply to assuage his own grief if one of the babies was born a boy! Then, when both babies are born a girl, he all but abandons his wife! That's not very good husband material, is it?"

With an angry snarl, Helia drew a dagger that had been sheathed at her waist, and held it to Kratos's throat, right where his jugular was located. There was a fire in her eyes that Kratos could not help but think was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen.

"My father was a _good man_, Kratos - much better than you will _ever_ be! What he done may be debatable in how dastardly it was, but I have no doubt that his actions did not come from his heart! He and my mother were in pain, and they comforted each other the only way they knew how!" Kratos scoffed again as he threw away her arm and gently massaged his throat where the blade had bit into his ghost white skin.

"We have a name for him where I come from, Princess . . . it's called 'asshole'. And I hate to say it, sweetheart, but your father was the biggest asshole on the face of the planet, second only to Zeus!" He walked off then, and with a snarl of rage, Helia stomped off after him.

"How dare you talk about my father that way?" She screeched after him, and Kratos laughed as he spun around. He grabbed Helia by the shoulders and pinned her against the nearby marble wall, his eyes quickly growing as rage-filled as hers was.

"You did not know your father before he met your mother, Helia! He was the worst kind of man! He was deplorable in _every_ action that he committed - a hedonist in his ways, and the only reason he was held above reproach was because he was Zeus's uncle and held as much sway over the world as Zeus and Demeter did! Your mother made him what he was, Helia! Your mother made him become the articulate, family-loving gentleman that you grew up around! So before you get this high-and-mighty air about you that you've been having, think for a moment about how the man that's protecting you, might have known him in a past life, so-to-speak!" He scowled and released her. "And please do not get me started on your great love, Hermes. Now _him_, I could write a fuckin' book about!"

Helia gazed up at him, and for the first time, Kratos saw something close to tears appearing in her eyes. "Is it not okay for me to defend my father's name? Is it not okay for me to mourn the father that I grew up with; the father that picked me up when I was down and dusted me off when I fell . . . who comforted me when I cried over such minute things? You talk about my father being deplorable and a hedonist, but he's still my father, Kratos, and not for a moment, will my love for him as a daughter ever wane!" She shot him a disgusted look. "Love . . . something that you'll never know!"

She turned and marched off then down the hallway, and with a furious yell, Kratos ran after her. He grabbed her again and she immediately spun around, her fist meeting the side of his face in such a cracking hit that Kratos momentarily saw harpies circling around his head. But he quickly shook it off and upon taking firmly ahold of the struggling Helia, pressed her up against the nearby wall, where his lips caught hers. She froze immediately and her eyes grew wide with shock, and when they broke apart, his eyes were soft.

"I do know about love, Helia. The love I have for my dead daughter is all that I know. I killed Persephone to get to her, and I will not stop until I am with her again! So before you talk about me not having feelings, know this: I love my daughter, I loved my wife. I loved your mother as only one who was forced to love and admire her from the shadows could! I am also quickly starting to feel affection for you! Take that as you will, Helia . . . because right now, you're not going to get anyone more honest than me. Not even your precious Hermes will be as honest with you as I am right now." He finished before he gently let go of her and turned, where he walked off down the hallway again. Helia started after him, an alarmed look on her face.

"W-what did you say about Hermes?" She asked him in alarm, her eyes wide with the same emotion that laced her voice, and Kratos glanced behind him at her.

"Tell me, daddy's precious little Sunfire - was Hermes your first?" A look of fury appeared briefly on her face before she nodded.

"If you _must_ know . . . yes, he was, but what does that have to do –"

Helia was interrupted by Kratos scoffing and rolling his eyes. "Then don't ever expect to see him again! You see, this is a pattern with Hermes – a pattern he does quite often. He romances a young, beautiful, prospective girl, then sleeps with her and dumps her. He doesn't care about how powerful her father is – he still does it." Helia scoffed back.

"You don't know him! You don't know _us_!" Kratos looked back at her.

"Then explain to me why he didn't immediately come to rescue you when all this shit hit the fan? Explain to me that if he _truly_ loved you like you insist on trying to persuade me to believe, that why weren't you the first person on his mind? I saw him up there . . . in Zeus's quarters with you father, Hades and Poseidon." Helia gaped for a minute before she finally answered.

"I-I assumed that he was busy protecting Mount Olympus from _you!_" Kratos shook his head.

"Forget about him, Helia . . . he's long gone. Take my word for it."


	6. Chapter 3

**Lemon time!**

* * *

"You're deplorable . . . I just wanted to let you know that."

Kratos grinned and let out peal after peal of laughter at her words as he allowed his head to fall back, hitting the marble pillar that stood behind him. He shifted against it into a sitting position and turned to gaze at Helia across from him through the fire, noting her icy glare and the way her knees were being hugged tightly to her chest. Her hair fell down to the floor, settling down on the smooth, polished marble in fat ringlets.

"I love how you insist on _antagonizing_ me constantly!" He replied loudly, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Her jaw hardened, but she didn't answer him and instead, turned her gaze back onto the fire instead. She gazed deeply into the flames, tears starting to well up slowly in her eyes again. A soft look appeared in Kratos's eyes then, and he sighed. "This isn't fair, you know . . ."

Helia turned her eyes onto him at his words, an alarmed look on her face at the gentle, soft words. "What did you say?" She asked him quietly, and Kratos shrugged and looked away as he tossed a chunk of broken marble across the room. It hit the floor and scuttled off into a dark recess unknown clear across the room, causing a clattering sound as it went that took a while for it to fade away.

"I just said that this whole thing was unfair. I . . . your just too young to have to know all this pain, all this . . . this fucking bullshit!" He looked away then, his eyes trained on a dark, fresco painted wall across the way and Helia couldn't help her eyes from softening as she gazed at him. She couldn't help but see the sadness, the pain echoing in his eyes and she felt slightly guilty for constantly antagonizing him for the past three months they've been together. "Like right now . . . your sisters should be with your mother doing some stupid thing women do. Your father should be with the other Gods, laughing and conversing over stupid mortals that they had tricked and the women that they've bedded behind their wive's backs and not managed to get with child for once!" He chuckled then and shook his head. "And you . . . you should be with Hermes. You should be making love with him in the moonlight of whatever beautiful place he's taken you because he loves you so much and he wants to pamper you and cherish you!"

"But you said -"

"I stretched the truth a little bit okay?" Kratos interrupted her loudly, testily. "Hermes . . . _did _that. He doesn't anymore . . . not since you came into his life," He sighed and shook his head again. "He does love you, Helia. Passionately – madly, does he love you! I don't know what kept him from getting to you, but I guarantee you that he's tried many times! I suppose . . . I suppose I was just a little jealous . . ." He spoke, his voice immediately moving down into a mumble as he turned his head away from her so that she wouldn't be able to see the flush that spread up his cheeks. True, it didn't show that much, but he certainly felt it.

Helia sighed as she got to her knees and moved over to him. Kratos's eyes immediately spun onto hers and his eyes widened in shock as she neared him. He opened to mouth to say something, but Helia shook her head as she put her tiny, bird-like hands on his neck and kissed him. It was a soft, shy, sweet kiss that he couldn't help but gently reciprocate after seconds of it happening. His hands moved to wrap around her waist, where he pulled her to him. She broke apart and he gazed up at her with soft eyes as she smiled gently, running her fingers down his lips. His lips parted and he kissed the pads of her fingers, each one.

"I've been developing feelings for you too, Kratos. I've just been too . . . immature to show them." She whispered to him, and he smiled a half-hearted smile and shook his head.

"I didn't expect you to."

He leaned up and their lips locked in a passionate kiss that spun both their heads but made them yearn for each other with a drive so powerful that Kratos was amazed that he didn't come then and there. Helia was so different from the other women he's had relationships with in the past - even different from Lysandra. She was young and sweet – intelligent and level-headed . . .

She was much more suited for Hermes.

They broke apart again and Kratos opened his mouth to say something – to tell her that this was wrong – that she should stay true to the man that loved her, but she shook her head and gently shushed him by pressing a finger to his lips. Kratos found his eyes softening even more, and he immediately nodded in agreement. They only have so much time and they were determined to spend it the way they wanted to . . . with their bodies doing most of the talking.

He placed his bigger, callused hand on her cheek for a moment before they both leaned in, their lips meeting in a slow, almost shy kiss before they broke apart. They gazed at each other for a moment, their eyes roving over the other's features looking for any sign of hesitance and upon finding none, they both leaned in again, their lips meeting in a fiercely passionate kiss that had both of them moaning softly and aching for the other's embrace.

His lips moved down to her neck, her fingers moving to wrap around his muscular biceps as he wrapped an arm around her waist and lowered her back onto the nearby bedroll, him falling gently on top of her, his hands catching him on either side of her to spare her his full weight. He kissed her lightly before Helia seized the opportunity to kiss his chest, tasting the saltiness of his skin and the muskiness of him, and grinned as he let out a breathy moan. Kratos reached down and pulled up the hem of her torn short skirt, rubbing her shapely calves as he did so. Skillfully, his hand crept from her leg over her hips and behind her back, pulling open the laces of her corseted top. Her shoulders were open to his lips now, and he pressed feather light kisses to the exposed flesh.

Kratos slipped off his armor then and Helia pressed a kiss to his lips as she touched his cock, her fingers wrapping around his hard length. She sighed with relief when Kratos moaned out at the feeling. She gave a gentle pump as he pulled down her corset top, revealing her small, yet still ample breasts as flawless and beautiful as he envisioned them being. He pulled the fabric of her skirt down her legs, leaving her as naked underneath him as he was above her. Her hands covered her breasts nervously and he kissed her lips lightly before he moved her hands away and drew a dusky nipple into his mouth, where he toyed with it with his tongue. Helia gasped at the coolness of his lips against the warmth of her body, and Kratos massaged her breasts roughly, rubbing her nipples between his callused fingers and kissing her lips. Her skin felt like it was on fire, her moans growing louder the faster his ministrations became.

Kratos kissed from her breasts down to her naval, rubbing her flesh lovingly as she moaned and raised her hips to him in her building desire. He grabbed onto her hips and buried his head in-between her legs, licking her swiftly and probing a finger deeply into her. Helia moaned and tried to relax her body as he kissed and made love to the warmth between her legs, bringing her closer and closer to edge of the precipice. He loved the taste of her, of Helia and for the life of him, he knew he always would.

He stopped before she hit her peak and he kissed his way back up to her lips, where he positioned himself at her entrance. Helia wrapped her arms around him and gasped, immediately biting down on her bottom lip as the tip of him entered her. He watched her face, gauging what she was feeling as he moved his hips into her, judging how slowly or quickly he should by the amount of building desire flickering throughout her eyes.

He finally pushed himself completely into her and stopped, allowing her to adjust herself to him. She moaned and he could feel her clench around him, her body working on its own to the strange feeling of a man inside her. Helia finally sighed, feeling her body relax underneath him, and she spread her legs further so that her legs could wrap around his waist as Kratos began a steady pace, sucking her nipple into his mouth and toying with it as she moaned, her hands moving over the broad expanse of his muscular back, where she grasped his shoulders from behind. A roll of pleasure swept over Kratos, and he thrusted deeper, panting into the curve of her neck as his thrusts came faster and harder. Helia's moans were driving him wild, her breasts that were pressed tight against his chest, were maddening. He grasped them, kneading them, his thumbs flicking over the nipple as he kissed her lips feverishly until her muscles clenched around his cock, her nails raking bloody gashes down his back as her quiet moans turned into those of screaming moans.

Kratos's hands left her breasts and he grabbed her legs and pushed them back, her ankles falling onto his shoulders, allowing his thrusts to hit her at a new angle. Looking down at her, he could see himself moving in and out of her, making him light-headed with lust and his eyes dark with desire. Her flushed breasts swayed in time with his thrusts as he pushed in as deeply as he could, eliciting a moaning whimper from the beautiful young woman lying beneath him. He could feel every inch of her soft walls pulsating around him and could feel himself quickly approaching his limit.

Kratos hugged the petite woman to him as he thrust as quickly as he could. Helia was quietly moaning his name as he felt her walls tighten around him, sending her over her limit. Her head was thrown back and Kratos licked and nipped at the pulse point on her neck as he released inside of her, sending a tsunami of orgasmic pleasure shooting throughout both of their bodies. He came, her name like a fervent prayer on his lips, and Helia kissed his neck and smiled as Kratos rolled over on the bed and pulled her naked, flushed body atop of his.

Helia sat up then, her fingers moving through her hair, and when she grabbed at her clothes and made a motion to stand, Kratos's fingers wrapped around her upper arm, keeping her back. "Helia, please -"

"Kratos, don't worry, I'll be back!" She assured him before smiling. "I just . . . have to go think for a minute, okay . . .?" She murmured as she stood, walking off from the naked man lying on the floor behind her, pulling on her clothes as she moved, his semen running down the inside of her thighs on her mad haste to get away from him and what she had just done.

* * *

_Laughter reverberated throughout the room as Helia entered the room at a run, Hermes hot on her heels in his winged sandals. Grins were on both their features as well as laughter and when he became a blur and ran ahead of her fast enough to suddenly appear in front of her, she let out a grinning shriek of delight. She tried to turn off of her heels and run in the other direction, but Hermes defied her by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her away from the direction she was going to run off in. Hermes could have very easily caught her if he had allowed her to run, but he didn't want to. He was drunk off of the air of her laughter and the sight of a grin on her beautiful face . . . he didn't want that to end. _

_ "Dammit Hermes, _let me go_!" Helia laughed as he hefted her higher up his strong arms. Still, grinning, he shook his head._

_ "Oh, you can forget about that, love!" He told her as he moved to gently pin her with love against a nearby wall, her lips descending on hers with a love and a passion that had her breathing hard with want. Her hand splayed out on his cheek as they broke apart and she gazed down at him, her eyes running over his features._

_ "Do you love me, Hermes?" She asked him quietly, and he grinned._

_ "I love you with a passion that rivals a thousand of your father's suns, Helia!" He told her quietly, and she swallowed heavily. _

_ "I . . . don't want to lose you . . ." She spoke finally, and he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion._

_ "Why would you lose me?" He asked her in clear confusion and she shrugged._

_ "Its just . . . father thinks something bad will happen now that Kratos has killed Ares and has become the new God of War – that he's somehow upset the balance of things. If something _does_ happen . . . I don't want to lose you . . ." She spoke quietly, and he grinned and laughed again as he kissed her, slowly, passionately . . . lovingly._

_"My love, I swear to you on the waters of the Styx, that if anything bad happens to Olympus . . . that I will try my hardest to get to you!" Grinning, she kissed him again and the quickness with which their clothing was shed from their bodies and thrown into neat piles a couple of feet away from them, made them laugh quietly for a moment as they immediately sought out each other's embrace. They clung to each other tightly, and e__ventually and eagerly, their lips connected, their tongues entwining as Hermes brought her away from the wall and turned around, where his back pressed into the walls moments later. She pinned him with love, only to mount him against the wall, the contrasting lightness and bronzeness of their skins moving against each other's like a yin and yang as they found their long-awaited-for pleasure in each other's arms, their pleasurable moans and groans heard by no one but them. . . ._

* * *

The dream left Helia with the abruptness that followed every dream graced to her by Morpheus. She let out a moan as she awoke, pushing herself off of the cold marble floor as she did so. She looked around with groggy eyes, not recognizing where she was. The fire that Kratos had started in their camp, was now gone, as well as the Ghost of Sparta that had become her protector.

Then, she realized just why Kratos and the fire were not there. They had made love and then Helia, guilty because of what she done – how she had betrayed her family and beloved Hermes by sleeping with the instigator of all this – excused herself so that she could go think. She must have gotten tired and fell asleep, where she dreamed of happier times . . . happier times with Hermes.

Helia got slowly to her feet, rubbing at her still sleep heavy eyes absentmindedly. Her mind was still awash with the lasting remnants of her dream and she didn't notice when a hauntingly sweet voice floated over to her from a nearby corridor. Her eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion and her hand scrambled beside her for her sword but she froze when she realized that the sword was back at camp . . . with Kratos . . .

"Oh shit . . ." She muttered to herself as a siren entered her room, her voice sounding so beautiful and haunting. Helia knew better than to listen to the voice. So instead, she inched slowly to the archway leading to the corridor, where she could hopefully escape the siren and find her way back to Kratos . . . 'hopefully' being the key word.

The siren watched her all the while, her voice still floating around them, wrapping Helia in a floating tune that made every movement seem sluggish. Helia was slowly losing the battle, she knew that now.

"Kratos . . ." Helia murmured as she slowly collapsed to her knees inches from the archway. The siren leered over her, the grotesque mouth pulled back into a sharply pointed toothy grin. Helia swallowed heavily and with every ounce of strength in her body, screamed Kratos's name as the siren plunged down to her, her clawed hands making a beeline for Helia's throat.


	7. Chapter 4

**No amount of apologies could ever excuse me not updating this fanfiction in seemingly forever, so I'm just gonna jump into, why don't I? :)  
****I am sorry for the shortness of this chapter and the kinda 'filler-esque" content, but like I stated previously, this fanfiction is proving harder to write than I ever could have anticipated (which is another reason I took so long to finally update!). I had originally intended for this chapter to be longer but then I decided aganist it, as what I had planned to write would make it almost "too" long? So the content that I had intended for the latter half of this chapter, will be the next chapter :)**

**You know the drill: read, enjoy and review!**

**- Nagiana**

* * *

When Helia woke up, she was covered in blood.

When Helia woke up, she started screaming.

Really, it wasn't the blood that made her scream. She had seen blood before; it wasn't anything new. No, the reasons she screamed upon waking, was the fact that a severed Siren's head was lying inches away from her face.

She heard someone curse in a deep voice and her body suddenly lifted effortlessly off of the ground. The Siren's head grew father and farther away until she realized that it was Kratos who had lifted her up so effortlessly and who was now carrying her back to the place where their camp had been the previous night.

"Helia, are you okay?" He asked her a little worriedly and she nodded as he gently set her back on her feet once they reached the camp. "When you left I didn't know where you were for a minute. You scared me! It wasn't until you screamed that I knew where you were!"

Helia nodded although in truth, she wasn't listening. "We should continue on . . . the viewing room isn't far from here . . ." She spoke as she took off down the hallway, leaving Kratos with no choice but to follow her. Her heart still pounded in her chest for many reasons, namely that she had slept with Kratos and had come so close to getting her throat torn out by a damn Siren!

Oh Zeus, why couldn't she just find Hermes already?

They entered the viewing room moments later and both of them fell into awe. It had been a long time since both of them had been in the Chamber of Flame and despite everything going outside – the ruin and the decay; the Chamber of Flame seemed completely intact – untouched by the evils outside. The frescos on the walls were still in their same flawless condition, and Pandora's Box, surrounded by flickering blue flame, was still in its same place in the middle of the room. Helia moved to observe the frescoes whereas Kratos immediately moved to the flame and Pandora's Box.

"Kratos, I think these tell the story of the box – _Kratos, don't do that_!"

Kratos was suddenly pulled roughly backwards from the flame by Helia. He had stretched out a hand to touch it and Helia had saw. Her eyes had grown wide with fear and horror as she ran to him from one of the frescoes, her hands grasping one of his shoulders when she reached him, and yanked him backwards. Kratos, in turn, turned a startled look upon her.

"Kratos, the flame has the power to incinerate a God! Don't touch it!" She snapped and Kratos smirked as he took a couple of steps away from her.

"So . . . you do care about me!" He spoke and Helia immediately opened her mouth to speak. She was interrupted, however, by a voice coming from the archway leading from the Chamber of Flame, to the raining outside world.

"Oh please Kratos, how could she love you when she has _me_!?"

Helia felt her heart sprout wings as she turned around and saw Hermes standing in the archway, a smug look on his face and his flaming hair impervious to the wet world outside. Her eyes grew wide in shock and joy and Kratos could little to stop her as she pushed him aside and ran, full tilt, for the other God. Hermes met her midway and he scooped her up in a tight hug, his face moving to bury in the nape of her neck.

"Oh Zeus, I thought I had lost you!" Helia ended up crying into his shoulder, and he shushed her gently.

"Didn't I swear to you, Helia, on the waters of the Styx that if something bad happened to Olympus that I would do anything and everything to get back to you?" He asked and Helia laughed as they broke apart, their lips connecting moments later.

"I'm so sorry that I doubted you!" She murmured as they broke apart and Hermes nodded as he wrapped an arm around her waist and turned to Kratos.

"I thank you Kratos, for keeping my love safe for me until I could get to her. I hear you two had a nasty run-in with a Siren?" The look of abhorrence on Kratos's face was almost comical as he took a few steps towards them, then stopped.

"It was nothing I couldn't handle." He spoke and Hermes nodded, one of his brows arching in distaste.

"Yes, I figured . . ." He muttered before turning a much more joyful expression onto Helia still standing beside him. "I'm so glad to have you back! You look hale and hearty! Oh my love, I had been so frightened!" He took her in his arms again at that moment and Helia laughed as she hugged him back.

"Well, we got into some scraps, but other than that, it wasn't too bad getting here -!"

"That's right – I had forgotten to ask! Why are you two here?" Hermes's voice became hard and almost angry as he whirled around to face Kratos. When Kratos didn't answer, Helia did.

"Hermes, please! Kratos needs the flame to destroy Zeus -!"

"Destroy Zeus? What is this blasphemy?" Hermes laughed as he turned back to face her. "Helia, Zeus does not need to be destroyed! Do you not realize that Zeus is the only thing saving us from this-this . . . _usurper_?" He spat out the last word through gritted teeth as he shot an angry look at Kratos, and Helia shook her head.

"Hermes, you don't understand!" Helia pleaded with him, her hand moving to settle on his chest as she spoke – over his beating heart in his chest. He turned his eyes back onto her but she could tell that every reflex was tuned in towards Kratos. "Zeus has gone crazy with power – he is bent on destroying the world – not saving it! He has been since the box opened long ago -!"

"Helia, your father died protecting your family, did you know that?" Hermes interrupted her, yet again, his voice quick and to-the-point. He took her hands in his as he directed this question to her and the look of shock on Helia's face made Kratos's heart plummet into his chest. "He died protecting your family from this monster that you travel with! He died with his love for your mother fresh on his lips – for anger at what this beast had done to your sisters, on his heart and in his eyes!"

"Hermes, I'm warning you -!" Kratos growled but Hermes interrupted _him _by turning an angrily defiant glare onto him.

"Go ahead, Kratos – open that bag at your belt! Show Helia what is contained within!"

Once again, Kratos's heart plummeted into his stomach and he turned a pleading gaze onto the younger woman but her defiant one that reminded him so keenly of her father at that moment, made his blood run cold. "Go ahead, Kratos! If Hermes thinks there is something I need to see contained within that bag, then go ahead . . . show me!"

"Helia, please, don't make me do this!"

"Show me what is in your bag, Kratos!" Helia demanded firmly, her hands balling into fists at her side and with a grimace, Kratos untied the bag at his belt and yanked its drawstrings open. Shoving his hand inside, he slowly withdrew what was contained within and drew it into the light – what _had _been contained within since Helia had joined his party.

For the second time, that day, Helia screamed.

White fingers curling into feather light brown locks, Helia screamed upon realizing that Kratos was holding her father's torn head. Tears ran down her eyes as she crumpled to the marble floor underneath her, Hermes immediately moving to her side as she did so. "Don't you see now? Don't you see why you cannot trust him – that your place – a place of safety is with me – is with Zeus?" He asked, and as Kratos gingerly replaced her father's head in his bag, he saw her hands had moved up to fist in Hermes's periwinkle blue tunic. Tears still ran down her cheeks as she turned her eyes up to Kratos.

"Why . . .?"

The question temporarily floored him and for a moment, he didn't speak. When he finally did, his voice was quiet and the answer speared another lance of agony through her heart.

"I had to."


End file.
